The Weber-Stephen Products LLC is a privately heldAmerican manufacturer of charcoal, gas and electric outdoor grills with related accessories. In 2004, Weber-Stephen acquired competitor Ducane, which marketed high-end gas grills.[1] It also publishes grilling-related recipes and cook books. The company was family owned until it sold a majority stake to BDT Capital Partners in 2010.[2]

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Weber-Stephens was incorporated on May 8, 1893 as Weber Bros. Metal Works.[3]

The original round kettle grill was built by George Stephen Sr., a part-owner of a sheet metal shop in Chicago who sought to improve on the brazier he had been using to cook with at home.[4] The grill was produced using two sheet metal half-spheres normally used as parts of buoys built in his shop. Shortly thereafter he began selling the invention, which he called 'George's Barbecue Kettle', for which there was considerable demand.[5]

Because the grill became so successful after he began selling it in 1952, Stephen formed the barbecue division of the Weber Brothers factory. In the late 1950s, Stephen bought out the Weber Brothers factory and became the sole owner, devoting all his professional time to manufacturing and selling the Weber kettle. Soon thereafter, Stephen changed the company’s name to Weber-Stephen Products Co.[6]

In March 2004, Weber-Stephen acquired competitor Ducane.[1] At the time, Weber stated that it would continue to manufacture Ducane gas barbecue grills at the Barnwell, South Carolina facility. However, Weber outsourced production of Ducane models to China.

In 1989, the company opened the first Weber Grill Restaurant in Wheeling, Illinois. Later, four more locations were built in Lombard, Illinois (1999), downtown Chicago (2002), Schaumburg, Illinois (2005), and Indianapolis (2007).[7] BDT's acquisition did not include restaurant operations so the restaurants remained owned by the Stephen family. Although the brand name hasn't changed, they are now two separate companies with one focused on outdoor grills manufacturing and the other one focused on restaurants.

Ducane markets gas grills through big box home improvement and specialty outdoor product stores. In 2007, Ducane introduced the Affinity Series, which was part of the largest launch in Weber-Stephen's history.[8]

The Ducane Products company started out as Ducane Brothers Metal Fabricating in 1946. It moved three years later to Little Ferry, New Jersey, where they manufactured warm air furnaces. In 1968, the name was changed to The Ducane Company and moved the base of operations to Barnwell, SC. In 1975, they started making Ducane Gas Grills.[9] However, Ducane filed for bankruptcy in 2003 and was acquired by Weber-Stephens in 2004 for $13.6 million.